Run for the Hills
by Atomsk-sama
Summary: AU.  He was a kid that was meant to be a star.  A turn of events caused this prodigy to give up everything that he held dear.  With the help of a certain redheaded captain, will he have the courage to take back what he lost?
1. Full Summary

**Run for the Hills**

Authoress Note

Hi All! So I decided to start another story. I had this splurge of ideas come to me at random and I'd like to start making these into something. Its another alternate universe one, but this time its about Roxas and Axel! I haven't really done a story like this before and as of right now, no I don't know if I will have them become involved romantically. We'll have to see how the story goes! As always, I truly appreciate constructive criticism, but don't care for flames. I always like to hear what people want to see and if I can incorporate it! For those of you who have been reading _The Journey Back to You_, I'll have an update for you soon! Its just been a little hard to decide what direction to go in.

**Standard Disclaimer:**

I **DO NOT** own Kingdom Hearts or any of the characters from Final Fantasy! This will be the only place to see the disclaimer. But it is here!

**Full Summary:**

_Alternate Universe._

He was a kid that was meant to be a star. A turn of events caused this prodigy to give up everything that he held dear. Now, he continues his life in a school with no friends, hoping to make it through unnoticed. He would have succeeded, if he didn't happen to cross paths one day with a redheaded captain. With his help, will he have the courage to take back what he lost?

_**Atomsk-sama**_


	2. Who is that Kid?

**Run for the Hills**

Chapter 01 – Who is That Kid?

It was a slightly blustery day for November in Traverse Town as fall had finished to settlling in even with the winter cold. There were no winters in this vastly populated city, nevertheless, the temperature dropped to nearly freezing at some points. The children and teenagers were off to their respective schools. Twilight High and Destiny High were the two rival high schools on opposite sides of this vastly populated town. Some teenagers were lazily making there way towards the school, while others were sprinting for fear of being late.

Just reaching the school gates with ten minutes to spare before homeroom is one lone teenager, a senior to be precise. Everyday, he made his long trek to school in his uniform, consisting of a pair of dark khaki pants, neatly pressed oxford style button down shirt, and a tie dangling from around his neck. The main thing that set him apart from the rest of the school population is not the alterations he made to his uniform, for there were none, but the fact that he work thick rimmed glasses that distorted his startling sky blue eyes and a worn out baseball cap that covered his sandy blond hair completely.

No one spoke or talked to him as he was a major geek in their eyes. He had no friends in Destiny High. Not even the nerds would talk to him, not that he minded. His goal was to finish his last year of high school going unnoticed as he always had since he entered his freshman year. He transferred from Twilight Middle just as he entered high school due to...an unfortunate accident that occurred. At least that was how things were recorded in his school transcript. The only person in this school who knew what happened was the principal of Destiny High. He preferred to keep it that way.

Fate seemed to have something different in store for Roxas Hikari.

"Heads up!" came a scream from his left. Roxas ducked just in time to see a soccer ball fly over his head, bouncing against the building and landing at his feet. Roxas just stood staring at the soccer ball. Seconds later came a tall, lanky redhead chasing after the soccer ball, stopping a few feet short of Roxas.

"A little help?" asked the redhead, his trademark smirk appearing on his face. Roxas finally looked up to meet the piercing emerald eyes of one Axel Nara, captain of the soccer team at Destiny High. Rolling his eyes, Roxas turned to head towards the entrance of the school, but not before kicking the soccer ball with the heal of his foot towards Axel. Axel barely caught it with his hand, the soccer ball just barely grazing his head. Confused, Axel turned to return towards his group of friends waiting for him to return with the ball.

He never took much notice of Ryozo, or Raidon was it? He couldn't remember the kids name. He knew he had gym class with him, though since the kid never took of his glasses or hat, even in the locker room. What confused him, was the way he kicked the ball to Axel. At first he thought it was a mistake and the kid just didn't know how to kick a soccer ball, since he never really did well in class when they had soccer. However, there was something about how fluidly the kid kicked it to him. He barely noticed it, but it was there as if he did it on purpose, and skillfully at that.

Shaking his head, he put those fleeting thoughts to the back on his mind as he returned to his friends. Dropping the ball on the ground, he launched the ball in the air towards his best friend, Riku, who caught it with his leg easily. After a short pass to their friend, Tidus, Riku retreated back to stand next to Axel.

"Whats up with spacing out?" Riku asked. If there was one thing Axel knew was that Riku was the only one who could read him like an open book. Axel shook his head and smirked at his friend.

"Just thinking about that kid that I almost hit with the ball. He struck me a little odd." replied Axel. Riku rolled his eyes, knowing what the redhead might possibly do. Axel had a need to satisfy his curiosity when it was peaked with an interest.

"Just leave him be. That was that Roxas kid right? He doesn't have any friends and people think he's such a dork. In freshman year, the guys used to beat him up, but the kid just took it, not saying anything. The only time he got remotely defensive is if someone tried to pull of his hat or glasses. He's not worth your interest." at this Riku's smirk was pronounced on his face. "Besides, don't you have any other boy toy that keeps you amused? Going after the weirdos now?"

Axel rolled his eyes at his friend's antics. Most of the school knew that Axel preferred men, with a few women once in a while. He wasn't necessarily classified as a player, since that was Riku's title, he just accepted that people wanted him and indulged himself once in a while. The bell rang outside, signaling the start of classes. Axel and Riku made their way to homeroom after stopping off at their lockers, Axel still slightly lost in his thoughts. Riku looked over at his friend, quirking an eyebrow.

"Seriously Axel. Stop thinking about that kid. You got more important things to worry about, like the soccer team. Coach says he wants to talk to you and me before practice today. Something about Twilight High's soccer team." stated Riku.

This had the desired effect Riku was looking for. If there was one thing that could change Axel's thoughts in a heartbeat is soccer, especially when it pertained to Twilight High. Both Riku and Axel had a negative disposition against the captain over there. His name was Seifer Shiga, and he was the epitome of what one would deem a jackass. Keeping those thoughts in mind, they made their way to their first period.

Had they been more aware of who was around them, they would have noticed a smaller boy with thick rimmed glasses and a hat on, stalking casually behind them towards his own class narrow his eyes at what he overheard. Growling a little he continued on to his own class with only one thought in his mind.

_Seifer._

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	3. Maybe Some Other Time

Wow, yeah I know its been a while. I had some things I needed to take care of and I lost my inspiration for all my stories all together. Sorry about that!

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**Run for the Hills**

Chapter 02 – Maybe Some Other Time

Axel could barely contain his excitement at the prospect of going to lunch, followed by his all time favorite class, gym. Merely seconds after the bell rang, he was up and out of his seat and the first out the door. Riku, casually standing up, rolled his eyes at his best friend. Sometimes, he wonders about that kid and his excitement over the tiniest things.

Strolling towards the door in a leisurely manner, Riku exited the classroom, only to run right into another student. It wasn't a strong collision, but enough of one to force Riku back a step and whoever ran into him to fall on the floor. Shaking out of his revere, Riku looked down only to find a kid with a baseball hat on the ground. Sighing, Riku held out his hand to him. The kid, who he now recognized as that weirdo Axel was talking about, looked up at him. His breath almost caught in his throat at the sight of those blue eyes. Apparently, Roxas' glasses were knocked off and the kid had yet to realize it. Shaking his head, Riku quickly dispelled his stupor and held out his hand to the kid. Roxas looked at Riku's hand and then at his face. Sighing, Roxas stood up on his own. He didn't bother to glance at Riku again and continued walking down the hall.

Riku glanced back at the kid who had just brushed him off with a quirked eyebrow.

_'Someone got up on the wrong side of the bed. Sheesh, try and help a guy.'_

Riku turned back around getting ready to leave towards the lunch room, only to stop short at the sight of the kids glasses. He stared at them blankly for a few more seconds before bending down to pick them up. After a short examination, Riku tried to put them on. Riku became a bit startled when he realized that he could see through them perfectly, regardless of how thick the glass seemed to be. Quickly, Riku took the glasses off and stuck them in his pocket and proceeded down the hall towards the cafeteria.

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Roxas settled himself down on a tree branch a good ways away from the outdoor lunch seating. He ate alone as he does everyday. Usually, he spent his time looking through magazines he brought to school as he finished off his sandwich. Today was no different, especially when his monthly soccer magazine arrived. Roxas pored over what the articles said. Some were about up and coming games between rival teams, while others pertained to the new and latest soccer equipment for better performance. As he was reading one article about a new shoe developed to help better traction on the field, his cell phone vibrated in his pocket. Quite startled, Roxas had to grab onto a tree branch to prevent himself from falling. He took his cell phone out and flipped it open to answer.

"Hello?" Roxas began.

_"Yo Roxas! How ya been buddy?" _came the overenthusiastic reply from his one and only best friend, Hayner.

Roxas chuckled to himself, thinking at how Hayner would be the only person he knew who would call him in the middle of school. "Doing all right, just the usual. Eating lunch, looking at stuff and almost falling out of trees because of my best friend decided to call me."

_"What?! What the hell are you doing in a tree, Roxas?! Well, never mind. Anyways! The guys..."_ there was a small scuffled _"..Ow! Ow! Okay! The group wants to know if you want to do something after school on Friday. We'll meet you at your school."_

Curiosity peaked in Roxas. "Sure, but why at my school?" Roxas heard another scuffle and he faintly heard Olette and Naminé mumbling something about having to tell him. Now his curiosity was getting the better of him. If he didn't know any better, he'd say his friends were trying to trick him into something.

"What are you guys planning?" Roxas finally spoke, since the scuffling had yet to stop.

_"What do you mean, buddy? We're not planning a thing! Great! We'll see you on Friday then!"_ Hayner responded, and quickly hung up before Roxas could say anything else. Roxas curiously looked at his phone before he decided that it wasn't worth racking his brains over. Whatever was going to happen would, whether it be good or bad. It didn't stop Roxas from gaining the odd feeling that something big was going to happen. With a quick shake of his head, Roxas jumped down from his tree seat with his bag, ready to make his way back towards the school. Roxas put a hand to his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. It took a couple seconds, but he soon realized that there was something missing from his ensemble. With both hands, he touched the areas where he glasses should have been.

_'Shit!'_ Roxas internally shouted at himself. He began to sprint towards the building, hoping to retrace his steps and find wherever he dropped his damn glasses. _'It must have happened when I bumped into that guy, Riku!.'_

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Riku let out a short sneeze. He had finished his lunch rather quickly, along with Axel and was already kicking the ball around in a small area near the outdoor lunch tables. Axel decided to up his offense and quickly dove towards Riku with the ball following with him. Riku proceeded to run towards Axel determined, to kick the ball from him. Axel was just about to make his move to run passed, but Riku saw it coming. After all, three years of playing with Axel should have gave him some insight as to how his friend plays. Riku dove with his right leg outstretched in front of him and bounced the ball away from Axel, sending it straight towards a familiar unsuspecting kid.

Roxas was so lost in his thoughts about finding his glasses, that he wasn't paying attention to the ball that was flying towards him. The _'Look out!' _barely registered when he turned his head left to see, yet again, a soccer ball flying towards him. It seems that that the only difference between the morning incident and what was about to happen now is Roxas would actually be hit with the soccer ball as opposed to having it fly by him. He could easily dodge and respond with his own kick, however that was not what he did anymore.

_Whack!_

Roxas stumbled to the ground, his hat falling off to reveal his dirty blond locks. He shook his head a little bit to dispel the dizzying feeling he had. He was going to get a major headache for that. He righted himself into a sitting position and looked up to see who the hell kicked that soccer ball. In his vision was the one and only Axel Nara and Riku Harada who were staring at him like idiots, in his opinion. Roxas let out a small groan as he slapped his hand to his forehead. It wasn't until then that he realized his hat nor his glasses were obscuring his physical features. With a small gasp, Roxas looked to his left to find his hat and quickly put it back on his head, making sure to cover all of his hair. Next he looked around for his glasses, but coming up empty, all the while trying desperately to ignore the two people who were still staring at him.

Riku was the first to snap out of his shocked state. He looked to his right to see Axel with his mouth hanging open, eyes wide and apparently no intention to stop anytime soon. He looked back over to Roxas to see the poor kid scrambling around looking for something. The light bulb went off in Riku's head. He stepped forward in front of Roxas and reached into his pockets where he previously stashed Roxas' glasses.

"You dropped these when we bumped into each other earlier." Riku started.

Roxas' head quickly snapped towards him and saw that Riku had his glasses. Quickly grabbing the pair from the soccer player, Roxas donned his glasses once again. As he situated himself into his normal physical style again, Axel seemed to finally snap out of his daze.

"Wow, no one would realize how gorgeous your eyes are behind those big glasses sunshine." came Axel's intelligent reply.

Roxas stared at him as if trying to decide whether to brush the comment off and not believing it, or punching him in the face. Riku, being the more intelligent of the two, couldn't help but add his own monologue.

"Well, that is true Axel, but what has me even more curious is the fact that he wears the glasses even though he doesn't need them." Roxas snapped his head over to Riku and only stared with an expressionless face, but Riku could see a whirlwind of emotions in his eyes. Anger and fear seemed to be the two most prominent. With that information, Riku decided to see if he could press for more answers from the blonde. Everyone in the school knew that when Riku Harada's curiosity was peaked, he would stop at nothing to find out.

"Now, to me, it seems like you are trying to hide from something. What I don't know, and frankly I don't really care, but you seem to have put a lot of effort into this. I mean you've been doing this since freshman year right? You've peaked my curiosity." Roxas' eyes shone with more anger and less fear as Riku spoke. He was about to lay into the silver haired boy until a particular redhead decided to interject.

"You like soccer?" Axel said with much surprise and a hint of excitement.

Roxas looked over at him only to see him staring at the ground by his feet. Roxas looked down and could only gulp nervously. Only a couple of feet away from where he was standing was his precious soccer magazine that he had been reading at lunch. When he looked back up, Riku could see fear more evident in his eyes again.

_'Hmm... well that's interesting. I wonder if he plays.'_ were Riku's thoughts on the matter. As if Axel had heard him, Axel spoke his question. Roxas face now adorned an expression of great discomfort. Roxas only had one word going through his head at the moment repeatedly, _'Dammit!' _ He was more than ready to make a break for it, but Axel's questioning green eyes kept his feet planted where they were. All he could manage to do was mutter out _"Once in a while."_ to the redhead. It seemed to light Axel's face up even more than it originally had been.

_"That's so awesome! Do you want to kick the ball around with me and Riku right now?"_ was Axel's response. The blonde and silver haired boy stared at him incredulously. Roxas was a bundle of nerves at this point, but trying to remain calm. He could NOT let anyone in this school find out who he was and that specifically included not playing soccer. _'Think! Think! What the hell do I say? Its usually so easy to just walk away!'_

Riku couldn't even begin to comprehend what was going on. Axel, the captain of the soccer team was inviting this nobody to play with them both? The kid probably wasn't even that good anyways. Now, don't get him wrong, he was sure there was nothing seriously wrong with the kid, but he was positive that Axel was breaking some type of high school commandment about the food chain. Of course, the upside would be Riku could find out more about him. It really shouldn't matter that much who your friends were anyways, hell even Riku had a few friends outside of school that he knew some thought of as "unpopular". Riku knew this personally, but he also knew the politics of high school, no matter how ludicrous they might be. Riku shook his head to break the thoughts whirling around inside. Now was not the time to have a discussion with himself. He looked over at Axel to see his eyes brimming with, was that hope? A big smile was on his face as he waited for the shorter boy's answer. He looked over at Rocks was it? He seemed at a loss for words.

Another couple of minutes passed before Roxas was finally able to speak up. _"I can't right now, some other time."_ was the only reply he could muster as his feet decided to move. He took off towards the building.

Axel's face was crestfallen when Riku looked back at him. He walked over to give him a pat on the back. "Don't worry about it. He's just some kid." Riku said trying to comfort his friend. Axel looked at him with a gleam in his eye. "You don't understand, Riku. There's something special about him. I can't put my finger on it, but I have to know."

"Why? I mean I've never seen you pay attention to someone this much in all the years that I've known you." Riku looked at him sharply. He didn't want to see his friend get worked up over something stupid like this. He decided at that point, he would find out whatever he could about... Roger? Whatever his name was, he would figure it out so Axel would stop thinking about it. The game with Twilight High was coming up and he needed to make sure Axel was not distracted. They needed to beat them, especially Seifer.

"...played soccer for a long time." Axel finished. Riku blinked at him now returning from his inner monologue. He really needed to do something about those. Axel looked at him and sighed.

"What I said was there's this fierce aura about him when I first saw him. I don't think that how he's acting is how he normally would, but that's just a hunch. Also, I still can't get that roundhouse kick out of my head. No one could have done that unless they've had a lot of experience making a split second decision like that. It makes me think that he's played soccer for a long time." Riku was impressed, Axel was analyzing the situation. Axel wasn't stupid, in fact he was very much on the intelligent side of things, but only when he paid attention.

_'This must be important to him then.' _Riku thought. "I'll see if I can find out anything about him okay? You just focus on soccer so we can beat Twilight okay?" Axel nodded his head in agreement. The bell that signaled the end of lunch rang at that particular moment. Axel and Riku gathered up their things to head into the building. Axel noticed that the kid forgot his magazine on the ground. He picked it up, reading the name that was printed on the mailing address, and decided that he would return it himself; it would give him another chance to talk to the short blonde. With a small smile on his lips, he headed into the building thinking of a way to approach Roxas.

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